12 Surprising Things You Didn’t Know About Good Friday

Good Friday marks the day Jesus was crucified on the cross. From flying a kite to abstaining from booze, here’s the scoop on this religious holiday.

The earliest known use of “Guode Friday” is found in The South English Legendary, a text from around 1290, reports BBC News. But it seems contradictory to call a day that is about death “good.” The thing is, despite Good Friday representing the anniversary of Jesus’s death, it’s also about the triumph of his rising again.

Christianity.com explains it in this way: “…the name Good Friday is entirely appropriate because the suffering and death of Jesus, as terrible as it was, marked the dramatic culmination of God’s plan to save his people from their sins.”